In the 1970s, two inhuman creatures—one hairy and tall, another with orange eyes—were spotted in New England. The mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, blamed these monsters not on unreliable testimonies, but recombinant DNA technology, then a new and promising laboratory technique. »3/30/15 4:05pm Yesterday 4:05pm

We don't usually think of talking to ghosts as a high-tech activity. But one guy is making a living off of ghost hunting apps, and his story from homelessness to app entrepreneur is actually pretty extraordinary. »3/27/15 7:30pm Friday 7:30pm

A drum full of radioactive waste exploded at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico last February, sparking serious safety concerns about the U.S.'s only longterm nuclear storage site. A yearlong government investigation has officially fingered the long-suspected culprit: kitty litter. »3/27/15 12:52pm Friday 12:52pm

Your typical thunderstorm strikes in summer, when the atmosphere is full of warm, moist air. So when lightning strikes in the middle of a winter blizzard, there is something strange going on. Thundersnow involves an entirely different type of lightning, and our skyscrapers are a key part of it. »3/26/15 8:10pm Thursday 8:10pm

Occasionally, we get to catch a glimpse of the hidden tests that ensure our technology-infused world runs smoothly: color bars on TV or blocks of "lorem ipsum" gibberish text. There's a fascinating story behind how each of these tests came to be and how they work. »3/26/15 4:00pm Thursday 4:00pm

The 9.0 Tohoku earthquake damaged thousands of buildings when it ripped through Japan four years ago. Much of that debris is gone now, but the broken buildings had an invisible effect, too: The earthquake released thousands of tons of ozone-destroying greenhouse gases into the air. »3/26/15 3:36pm Thursday 3:36pm

A millenium ago, a group settled in Iceland and have stayed there ever since, with few people coming and going. And so their DNA has stayed remarkably homogenous. That's a major boon for genetics researchers, who today have released the results of sequencing the complete genomes of2,636 Icelanders—the largest such…»3/25/15 5:25pm Wednesday 5:25pm

The length of a planet's day seems like such a simple number, a basic piece of information that should accompany any solar system diagram. But probes flying past Saturn have turned up oddly conflicting numbers. »3/25/15 5:00pm Wednesday 5:00pm

Glyphosate, better known as Roundup, is widely used to kill weeds, especially along with genetically modified crops engineered to be glyphosate-resistant. The World Health Organization today released an assessment calling the weedkiller "probably carcinogenic." But it's not as scary as it sounds.»3/25/15 3:11pm Wednesday 3:11pm

On March 23, 1965, astronaut John Young reached into his pocket and offered his crewmate Gus Grissom a corned beef sandwich. It was in the middle of the Gemini 3 mission, and let's be clear, they were in space. It was a silly little prank but one that, man, really pissed off Congress. »3/24/15 5:55pm 3/24/15 5:55pm

For vast majority of the year, the only way to reach remote but lucrative gold and diamond mines in Canada's northwest is by air. But every winter, something crazy happens. A 370-mile long highway is built almost entirely on ice—and it's strong enough for 70-ton trucks laden with fuel and supplies. »3/24/15 2:55pm 3/24/15 2:55pm

Eric Matzner tells me he takes 30 to 40 pills a day. He is 27 and perfectly healthy. Thanks to the pills, he says he hasn't had a cold in years. More importantly, the regimen is supposed to optimize the hell out of his brain, smoothing right over the ravages of aging, sleep deprivation, and hangovers. »3/24/15 11:00am 3/24/15 11:00am

Insulin has saved countless lives since its discovery in 1921. But nearly a century later, there is somehow still no cheap, generic version of insulin available in the U.S—making the "wonder drug" too expensive for many patients. Why? »3/20/15 2:10pm 3/20/15 2:10pm

Biodegradeable plastic, now often found in plastic bags and bottles, contains additives that are supposed to get microbes to break down tough plastic faster. But a new study from Michigan State University finds that some of these additives may actually doing, well, jackshit. »3/19/15 2:10pm 3/19/15 2:10pm

The faceputer ads say virtual reality is coming and it's gonna work this time. But here's some real talk: There are still many ways virtual reality cannot fool the human brain. And it has little to do with the tech itself. Instead, it's about neuroscience and our brain's perceptual limits. »3/18/15 3:05pm 3/18/15 3:05pm

File this under, "Welp, this is worse than we thought." A study published in Nature Geosciencefinds that warm seawater is likely getting under an East Antarctica glacier and melting it from below. If the glacier's ice shelf melts, runway melting could cause another 11 feet of sea-level rise—that's on top of…»3/17/15 8:20pm 3/17/15 8:20pm